Climate Scientists and Finance Experts to Collaborate on Study

The AMS will assemble leading members of the climate science and finance communities on June 3-4, 2013 in Washington D.C. to explore climate information needs for financial decision-making.

May 22, 2013

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) will present the workshop in partnership with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). The event is supported, in part, by a public-private partnership.

The event will culminate with a briefing June 4 from 11:00-12:30 summarizing the workshop outcomes. The briefing is open to the public, and reporters and Congressional staff are especially welcome to attend.

Workshop organizers aim to create new ways of enabling climate scientists and financial decision-makers to collaborate effectively. The two-day event will bring together financial analysts and investors, academics, and key leaders from the business, financial, and climate research communities.

The Forum will promote dialog between climate scientists and the finance community to document: the value of climate information to financial decisions, the barriers to using climate information in financial decisions, and research needs to reduce these barriers and to meet the information needs of financial analysts.

"We will look for instances where climate information has been used in financial analysis, and where climate information hasn't been used because it is inadequate for financial analysis," said Dr. Paul Higgins, director of the AMS Policy Program. "Ultimately, we will assess what is necessary to make climate information adequate for financial analysis."

"Climate research can add significant value to financial decision-making," says UCAR president Thomas Bogdan. "It is critical that we determine how to make this type of important information available to the financial sector."

Sessions will examine a range of recent, major climate sensitive financial decisions, including cases where existing climate projection information was used in the financial analysis, and cases where climate projection information was intentionally excluded from the decision process. The analysis will examine several classes of financial decisions, ranging from reinsurance to the construction of major infrastructures, with time horizons lasting from decades to centuries.

"It is our intention that the discussions will lead to stronger and more collaborative relationships between the climate science and finance communities, particularly where financial analytical barriers can be measurably reduced based on increased performance capabilities of climate models and prediction systems," Dr. Gary Geernaert, director, Climate and Environmental Sciences Division, U.S. Department of Energy, said.

"Ultimately the goal is to provide the best possible information to the financial sector to enable it to make sound decisions that are grounded in the latest research," Bogdan says.